Uzbekistan Airways has made this announcement:

In honor of the celebration of the 30th Anniversary of Independence of the Republic of Uzbekistan, according to the Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan No. 5100 dated April 30, 2021, “Uzbekistan Airways” JSC is proceeding to a hybrid model of air transportation. Within the framework of the new format of air transportation, called “Uzbekistan Express”, flights will be carried out on the already operating lines of the airline. This is reported by the airline’s information service.

Uzbekistan Express will focus on intra-republican and interregional transportation and will start operating its first flight on an Airbus A320 aircraft in a new “full economy” layout on August 30, 2021 on the Tashkent-Moscow-Tashkent route. The future route network will also include key cities such as Moscow, Novosibirsk, Kazan, Rostov-on-Don, Krasnodar, Sochi, Mineralnye Vody, Yekaterinburg and Aktau, Aktobe.

The hybrid business model of air travel is the possibility to travel on classic aircraft with business class and economy class combined with destinations that use modified airliners in a mono-class layout – full economy class. It is for a number of destinations in which business class is not popular that modified aircraft will be used. It is worth noting that by increasing the capacity of the updated aircraft, Uzbekistan Airways reduces tariffs by 20% on certain directions on which the converted airliners will operate.

At the moment, the fleet of Uzbekistan Airways consists of two re-equipped aircraft. However, the reconfiguration of two more airliners is planned in the near future.

Uzbekistan Airways has created the most comfortable conditions, in compare with classic low-cost carriers, which for the most part do not provide food and free baggage allowance, as well as without the possibility of refunding a ticket before and after the flight. Since the beginning of the operation on the hybrid air transportation model, the following rules have been introduced for the above lines:

For tariffs  that provide for the condition of baggage carriage and refund of air tickets, the baggage allowance is as follows:

• 1 piece of baggage – no more than 15 kg and the sum of three dimensions is 158 cm

• 1 piece of baggage – no more than 5 kg and the sum of three dimensions 115 cm for children before 2 years of age and does not occupy a seat in the aircraft cabin

In case of rebooking / refunding, a set fee will be charged in accordance with the tariff rules

For tariffs that do not provide for baggage transportation and ticket refunds:

• Free baggage allowance – not provided